NSW Govt Cuts Live Music Red Tape
News posted Friday, October 23 2009 at 04:00 PM.
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After a gloomy month of closures and near-closures, Sydney’s beleaguered live music scene is about to receive a timely boost.
In an effort to cut the red tape for live entertainment, the NSW Government has no longer made it necessary for venues to require a special Place Of Public Entertainment Licence (POPE) to host gigs. Under the old system, venues could not provide live entertainment without a POPE licence, which carried expensive ongoing costs and often required a substantial building upgrade to obtain.
Speaking to reporters today (October 23), NSW Planning Minister Kristina Keneally said the new directive would open up the floodgates for new venues and increase opportunities for local musicians. "The abolition of the POPE licences mean local eateries and watering holes no longer need development approval if they want to host live bands or musicians," Keneally told AAP.
But while the bureaucratic process of hosting live music has been eased, the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing still has the power to add liquor licence conditions to regulate security, trading hours, patron numbers and other matters at venues as it sees fit. Make of that what you will.
The new system will come into effect on Monday (October 26). For more information click here.
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Thank fuck, hopefully Sydney won't suck balls anymore, the scene there is the worst!
Wow. That's huge.
Something else to thank the Hoey for?
yesssssssssssssssssssssssss
Does this mean that warehouse malarkey will be legal? Where can info be got?
they're still unlicensed, so some things would be murky, but straightedge shows should be fine.
You could still drink in there as long as you weren't charging a cover. Warehouse style.
This is excellent news.
What does that mean for venues with licenses in effect? Do they get a pro-rata refund? It'd suck if you just had yours renewed...
true, i still think it'll be murky, as licensed places will still have to cover some basic OHS/security type things as part of the liquor license. They'll probably just exist as they do with no real change. It'll help out red rattler though.
No I mean I don't think you would need a liqour licence if you were just having a ''Party'' with no cover charge.
If you charge people to come in and drinking is happening. BYO or not you need a licence. This is what I understand from being involved in some warehouse jives and the cops berrating us. Even a donation is not on.
VIC law though.
Who the fuck knows.
story has been updated.
al!
the whole thing is murky. People have been able to operate in this manner for most of the year. It doesn't address the ''prior usage'' idea so they can still come down on a venue for any manner of reasons and it only applies for places who can show that providing music is not the main concern of the establishment. When they trialled live music at the pub I work at the clause was that it was fine as long as no PA operator was used. Anyone know if that's the case with this thing?
hee hee baron von blood
wow... thats kinda liberating of them.
all the published info is at http://www.olgr.nsw.gov.au/bb_music.asp including a *fact sheet for venue operator*s
Having read the fact sheet it's still pretty murky. Prior usage is not validated and yeh I'm not sure what the position is regarding PA operators ie do tougher conditions apply to places that want to have a stage with a real pa that could service an actual live band rather than a jam-in-the-corner set up? I like the way that having security guards is mentioned about five times in those facts sheets for a range of ''impact minimization'' options.
I'm no spoil sport. I think its great that we can have more music in more places but I don't think it's anything to celebrate if it goes hand in hand with losing actual live music pubs.
hi there
im putting together an FAQ for this all, please can you give me your queries in this thread: http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/3784054
I guess with a spare $60, 000 the hoey could upgrade the premises. If they haven't already got a pope in the bush.
Hey, that's a photo of a spod show!
I think there should be 'dry' venues.
so - has the sydney music scene bounced back yet?